


Vestiges of a Memory

by stellacanta



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, code vein crossover, fucked up timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-05 06:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21203150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellacanta/pseuds/stellacanta
Summary: Memories, even if forgotten, were never truly lost. Sometimes they were hidden somewhere in broken pieces waiting to be discovered.(A revenant wakes up hungry without his memories of who he is or where he came from. This might be the least surprising thing about him.)





	Vestiges of a Memory

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how many people know about code vein so ... I'm fully expecting to get barraged with questions here |D

_“This is the only way?”_

_Regis nodded grimly. “The king would just regenerate over and over again. There is no possible way to kill him.”_

_Drautos sighed shakily. “If that is the only way then.” He deliberated for only a second before he nodded. “I will do it.”_

_“Are you sure? You realize it means you will be sealed inside the crypt forever just to try to keep a portion of the king’s power under control.”_

_“If it means I keep my team safe, I will.” He hesitated for a moment. “Just- when they do wake up, let them know that I did it so no one would have to suffer again, okay?”_

_Regis nodded after a moment. “I will.”_

_..._

_“Luche, why are we here? Why aren’t we out fighting the lost like the others?”_

_Nyx was whining again. He was always whining when he wasn’t out fighting. It was like the other revenant didn’t have any interest for anything that wasn’t killing things. Luche frowned at the report in his hands. The mistles were drying up and their supplies of the medicine to revive them was rapidly becoming depleted. That was not good news._

_“Because keeping people safe and protected is also part of the operation,” he said as he made notes on the map about places to look and important routes to keep protected. “It’s not just enough to kill the lost that terrorize our people, we also need to make sure the revenants have a steady supply of blood and the humans have safe shelter.”_

_Nyx didn’t say anything more as the hour passed with Luche pouring over reports and jotting down notes in the margins._

_..._

_In the end, it was decided that Drautos would be the one to lead the charge against the frenzied king. He and a group of revenants handpicked to be at the forefront of operation kingslayer. The revenant couldn’t help but smile softly as he watched the group of them joke around during a rare moment of calm amidst the horrors of the operation. _

_(So many dead, and so many that had to be brought back to act as little more than cannon fodder in the operation. It reminded him of the days of the Great Collapse and the ensuing madness. The horrors from then had been taken care of but now … )_

_He felt a hand placed on his shoulder and he looked back to see Clarus standing at his side. “They’re a good group,” the other revenant said._

_Pride filled him and he looked towards the group. Crowe was laughing at something that Libertus said, and Nyx was scowling at the pair. Pelna appeared to be hiding a laugh and Luche smirked and said something that made Crowe laugh even harder. Tredd was playing a game of cards with Sonitus and Axis was polishing his blades. They were a good group, deadly on the battlefield and a close-knit group besides. (He could only hope that they would all make it out safely in the end.)_

_“They are,” he agreed with Clarus. “I hope we can bring an end to the king’s rampage soon.”_

_“That’s all of our hopes.”_

_The two watched the group talk merrily amongst each other until the klaxons sounded across the base to alert them to a sighting of the king. (Another day, another fight.)_

_..._

_They were resting at a mistle that they had cured just the other day, the pale plant emitting a calming blue and white light as they sat around it. “Finally feels good to not have to walk around in a purifier mask,” Nyx joked as Pelna handed out food for the lot of them. “I swear my mask was starting to smell from wearing it all the time.”_

_Lib eagerly reached for the offered skewers and dug into it heartily. Sure, the revenants might not need food to survive anymore, but his taste buds hadn’t died off in the revival process. The skewers still tasted as good as he remembered them to be. Good ole’ Galahdian comfort food._

_“Oh,” Crowe asked teasingly. “Are you sure you’re not just smelling your own B.O. from not having taken a shower in several days?”_

_“Hey! My B.O. can’t be as bad as say, Lib’s-“_

_“-don’t drag me into this,” Lib growled. “I’m not the one who insists on warping into the Lost and getting themselves covered in ichor here.” Crowe cracked up and Nyx gave him a look of utter disappointment. Luche shook his head as he muttered about how childish they were being._

_Pelna just sighed and looked at them as though he was their overworked caretaker. “Beer?”_

_..._

_He could only stare at the wall blankly when he was told. The other revenant was waiting for a reply, but- “there is no other way?”_

_“None.”_

_He inhaled shakily. They had made so many sacrifices. Almost half their group was dead and what had it all been for? For a hollow victory in defeating a king who could not die? For granting safety to their people for now?_

_He was tired, so tired. He had thought that the time for sacrifices would be over, but it had only begun it seemed. “Give- give me a moment to think about it.”_

_(In the end he agreed to the role, there was no other option.)_

_..._

_The miasma only grew worse as more revenants were created, succumbed to their bloodlust, and were turned into the Lost. The miasma seemed to grow thicker as ever more Lost were killed and no one had a good explanation for why. _

_The mistle they had stayed at the other day had dried by time they looped back around to it. Lib crouched down to examine it and turned to his teammates. “Hey, does any of you have that special medicine on you?” The group looked at each other and Lib knew without a doubt they didn’t. He growled and kicked the ground as he rose. “Guess we just will have to get some more the next time we stop by base.”_

_“If there’s any more to be had.” Luche’s eyes were tired when he spoke. “More mistles have been drying up and there’s been more demand for the medicine. Without a source for the medicine-“_

_Lib kicked the ground harder. “Stupid king making everything worse for everyone. Why can’t he just go and die already huh?”_

_No one had an answer to him. (He didn’t expect them to either.)_

_..._

_He got to the plateau right as the king was about to launch a flurry of spiked projectiles at Nyx and Luche. Without thinking he activated a gift to block the projectiles that were aimed right at the pair. Drautos growled at them when they looked back at him, “go, I’ll hold the spikes off.” _

_He watched as the pair leapt at the king, intent on keeping up the protective barrier around the two for as long as possible. (They were so close to finally ending this. The king was backed in the corner and this was the best chance they had to finally bringing at end to this madness.)_

_It happened so quickly that he almost didn’t notice it happening. Luche had the king pinned up against a wall when he shot a round of spikes right at Luche and Nyx. “No!” He grabbed his broadsword and rushed at them, but it was over in a flash. _

_Metal and magic wove around Nyx’s hand in the shape of a claw and in one strike he stabbed the king in the heart. He watched as the blood, a vibrant unearthly blue, spilled onto the ground as the king staggered backwards and was finally dead. _

_It was over, it was finally over. _

_..._

He awoke to the sound of a crackling fire and an amused looking woman besides him. “Awake,” the woman asked when he blearily blinked open his eyes. She handed a bowl of what looked to be thin soup at him. “Here, it’ll help restore your strength.”

There was a biting hunger deep in his belly and he eagerly took the soup from her. The hunger did not abate when he finished the bowl and he looked at her in confusion.

She cocked her head to the side. “Still hungry?”

He nodded.

“Soup didn’t help?”

He shook his head.

The woman sighed and rolled up the sleeves of her jacket. He blinked owlishly at her. “I’m actually still human, so-“ She raised her forearm to his mouth and he felt a deep instinct rise in him to bite the offered skin. “-this should help, drink deeply now, you look like you might frenzy.”

He did, and she let him rest in her lap when his hunger was sated. “Now sleep, we have a long way ahead of us.”

(He closed his eyes and wondered why he couldn’t remember what happened to him.)

_..._

_There was no time to celebrate when the king was finally dead. Nyx’s purifier mask had been knocked off and, he could only watch with passing dread as the other revenant’s eyes turned blue. The blue of the king’s power._

_Luche gulped back his fear and regret as he held up a hand. “You have fought well,” their captain said besides him. _

_“Now rest Nyx,” he said as he fired the shot of blood. It tore through Nyx’s heart and sent the revenant plummeting into the crevice below. He looked away and Drautos pulled him toward his chest to comfort him._


End file.
